---
title: captor — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «captor» in the school dictionary: A captor is a person who takes someone prisoner and holds them against their will. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# captor

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**Who acts:** captor, person, prisoners, knight · **What happens:** be, take, hold, lock, beg, free · **To what, where:** person, someone prisoner, them, princess, tower, captors

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«captor» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [captor in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/captor.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A captor is a person who takes someone prisoner and holds them against their will.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:captor:m1:1
# text = A captor is a person who takes someone prisoner and holds them against their will.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	captor	captor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	compound	_	_
9	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	against	against	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a captor | a person |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | present | a person | someone prisoner |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prisoner=Theme |
| 3 | **hold** | present | a person *not said here* | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The captor locked the princess in a tower.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:captor:x1:1
# text = The captor locked the princess in a tower.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	captor	captor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	locked	lock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lock** | past | the captor | the princess |  | a tower |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The prisoners begged their captors for mercy.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:captor:x2:1
# text = The prisoners begged their captors for mercy.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	captors	captor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | the prisoners | prisoners's captors |  |  |  | for mercy | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent captor=Recipient for mercy=Topic |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The knight freed himself from his captor.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:captor:x3:1
# text = The knight freed himself from his captor.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	freed	free	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	captor	captor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **free** | past | the knight | knight |  | knight's captor |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer himself=Source |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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